"Live" from Westerdam Alaska Sept 21-27, 2013

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you checked out the cabin's Jacuzzi.

Great picture.

[momatibm]

on some of the ships they aren't sneeze guards they are enclosed cabinets -- you open a door and make your choice. I can't remember which ship this was but it could only have been a HAL ship since I've only sailed them.

[sue117]

Random Thought of the Day:

 

I haven’t thought much about the bathroom door on our past cruises, but the door in this cabin made me think about it. In the past the door has been stiff, but it still would close when opened and it would bang against the door jam in rough weather. Again, it wasn’t anything that I ever thought about in the past. Well the door in THIS cabin is TIGHT. By that I mean I have to PUSH it to open it. It doesn’t move once opened. There is no way that it will bang open and closed in rough weather. They have really tightened the screws in the mechanism. It definitely stays open when you open it. :)

[sue117]

DAD'S REPORT for TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY:

 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Last night, as the ship entered the unprotected waters of the Pacific, the seas were rough. The most comfortable position was prone in bed, and I took that position about 10:30, and promptly fell asleep.

The ship was, by then, in calm waters of Glacier Bay, near Willoughby Island, when I looked out of the window of the restaurant and saw two orca whales surface for air not far from the ship. What a treat!

The rest of the morning the ship made its way slowly up the bay. About 11:00 we arrived at the terminus of the Margerie and Grand Pacific glaciers. The Grand Pacific was a dirty mound of grit and stone, and hardly recognizable as ice. I had to point it out to Pat. The Margerie was magnificent, white and blue, with some debris, of course. The captain positioned the ship so that the glacier was on the port side of the ship, so we watched and took pictures from the balcony of my suite. When the captain turned the ship, we moved over to Pat and Sue’s balcony. We saw ice calving off the glacier. We saw seals lounging on ice chunks in the water in front of the glacier. It was amazing.

The weather today, for this show, was magnificent. Cool, but bright blue skies, plenty of sunshine, no real wind to speak of. The captain told us on the ship’s intercom that we were “very, very lucky” to have such good weather.

As the ship left the Margerie, we decided, along with nearly everyone else on board, to have lunch. All the tables on the Lido Deck were full, so we got plates of lunch and brought them down to Pat and Sue’s suite and ate in their room.

Leaving Margerie, the captain turned the ship up the Johns Hopkins inlet to the terminus of the Johns Hopkins glacier. It, too, was magnificently beautiful. We lingered there for another long period of time, watching, taking more pictures. The guide commenting on the scenery called it one of the most beautiful spots on the planet. She was exaggerating, but it was indeed impressive.

On the way out of the Johns Hopkins inlet we passed the last of the glaciers on the day’s itinerary, the Lamplugh, also beautiful.

From there we made our way back down Glacier Bay. Pat took a nap. I took a nap. Sue stayed out on the balcony hoping, in vain it turned out, to see more whales.

For dinner we ate in the Vista Dining room. I ordered two shrimp cocktails, which consisted of several salad shrimp on beds of shredded lettuce. For the entrée I had a grilled New York strip steak with a knob of Blue cheese butter and herb-roasted potatoes. Sue had macaroni and cheese from the children’s menu, with a tomato and onion salsa that took the restaurant’s chefs a while to prepare, and her dinner wasn’t presented to her until Pat and I were nearly finished our entrées.

After dinner we retired to our separate suites. Pat and Sue watched some “Criminal Minds” shows on a DVD they brought with them. I watched “High Noon,” a DVD I brought with me.

Juneau is our next port of call, and not too far from Glacier Bay. We aren’t supposed to put into port until early tomorrow morning, so the ship is slowly turning circles in inland waterways this evening. As I type this, ship’s time is 10:50 p.m., and we are at 58°06.03’ N, 135°02.15’ W, on a course of 102° at 9.2 kts.

Half an hour later, we’re on a northerly course, 353°, at a slow speed of 8.8 kts.

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Some time before I woke, we docked in Juneau. When my alarm clock woke me, I opened the binds to see: nothing! The fog was so thick I could barely see the balcony railing. I said a discouraging word.

I met Pat and Sue for breakfast in the Pinnacle restaurant, and as we ate we could see the fog dispersing. It actually turned out to be a clear and delightful day.

At about 9:00 we met the representative of the NorthStar Trekking company at the end of the gangplank, and were driven to their headquarters at the airport. I brought my heavy hiking shoes with me in the backpack, but they had boots of just the right size for me. We dressed in boots, overpants, harness, and jacket.

They loaded us on the helicopter, five us, and our pilot lifted off just about exactly 10:00. My first helicopter ride. We flew out of Juneau and up into the mountains where he landed on the Mendenhall Glacier. Waiting for us were our guides, Grace and Michaela. They fitted us out with crampons, helmets, and ice axes, and we were off trekking on the glacier. They took us up into an ice fall, demonstrated climbing techniques with crampons and ice axes, showed us some crevices, invited us to fill our water bottles with glacial water. We had a nice pleasant, easy walk across the ice.

Once again, we were treated with wonderful weather. It was bright, sunny, relatively warm, and no wind up on the glacier.

After an hour and a half, or more, of trekking, the helicopter returned, we loaded up, and flew back to the Juneau airport.

A few years ago Sue had commissioned a wooden carved sculpture of her dogs, and the artist now lives in Juneau. Susan Smith picked us up at the NorthStar parking lot and drove us out to her studio. She showed us a number of her carvings. A small one of a bear carved from a piece of cottonwood bark caught my eye. Ms. Smith sold it to me at a very reasonable price.

Sitting there, while Sue and Susan were chatting, I got to thinking about going through security back at the ship, and having to unpack my cellular telephone, which has to go through separately. I couldn’t find my cell phone! Pat called NorthStar, and they found it where I had left it – in the fanny pack they had provided us. They agreed to bring it back to the ship on the next van of trekkers to return. What a relief! Back at the ship, Pat was wonderful to volunteer to wait by the gangplank for the van to arrive with my cell phone.

Meanwhile, Sue and I got back on board, and got sandwiches and salads from the Lido Deck dining area, and a sandwich waiting for Pat.

It was a nice adventure today.

For dinner, I tried soft shell crab Pad Thai. It was all right. Pat and Sue went with the everyday menu New York strip steak.

After dinner, we went to the 10:00 show of the comedian, Derrick Cameron. I hadn’t seen him before on any late night variety shows, but he had some amusing observations about life on board cruise ships and the kinds of people who take the cruises.

At midnight we are on a southerly course (161°) at 55°50.51’ N and 134°27.26’ W at a speed of 18.0 kts.

[sue117]

TUESDAY-GLACIER BAY

 

I’m glad that we are alternating sea day/port day because it was nice to be able to sleep in a bit today. We woke up around 7 and got ready for the day. I am really sore today. I didn’t think I would be, but after being jostled around on the zodiac yesterday my back hurts, my shoulders hurt, my stomach muscles hurt…I guess I am just getting OLD! Lol It could be that the beds are way softer than we are used to at home as well.

 

 

 

I went to the Neptune Lounge this morning and this is how the conversation with Michael went:

 

Michael: “Are you going to see the glaciers today?”

Me: “No” Pause. “In fact I’m going to keep my shades drawn all day just so I can’t see them.”

Michael: Blank stare

Me: “That’s why we got the wrap around balcony so we couldn’t see the glaciers”

Michael: (Finally getting my sarcasm) “ha ha ha”.

 

 

 

I think that he and his assistant aren’t sure what to make of me. Lol At least I keep them on their toes. I got a pre-breakfast bagel and went back to the room. We had breakfast at the Pinnacle. Yum. That is the one thing that I will miss when we aren’t in a N-suite. I really like being able to sit down and relax and eat breakfast. We had the same waiter as we did when we ate dinner here. I guess this is his first week back after 10 months off. He has been working for HA for about 20 years. He has a 4 year old daughter that he misses a ton (as well as 3 other kids-oldest is 16). He said that he has tried to stay home, but none of the things that he did “worked out” and since they needed the money he always seems to return to work for HA.

 

 

 

 

After breakfast we came back to the room to start the glacier viewing. The weather was a bit chilly, but not too bad, especially if we stayed out of the wind on the back side of the balcony. The weather today was PERFECT! The sun was out ALL day. In fact, it was kinda in our eyes all day! Ha. I saw more whales today than all the other 4 times that I have been to Alaska. We saw one whale during breakfast and 2 others on the way to the glaciers. I sat outside and tried to see other whales after the glaciers with no luck. We also saw birds (of course) and some seals. Overall it was a pretty good animal day.

 

 

 

Have I already posted the pic of the whale that we saw while at breakfast one morning? If not, here it is again:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was, of course, Glacier Bay day and it was a PERFECT day. The sun was out all day and it was great. I wish that we could have seen more calving from the glaciers, but I really can't complain.

 

 

 

Here is dad and hubby relaxing on the balcony. Not the beautiful SUN and the sunglasses that are being worn. Also laugh at all the "electronics" on the table. ha!

 

 

 

 

 

me and hubby in front of the glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

Me in front of the glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

So the chairs on the balcony bother me. They are too short to be able to see OVER the railing when you are sitting there and they are too tall to be able to see UNDER the railing when you are sitting. So I made my "own" bar height chair. Yes, I know, I know. It's not very safe. BUT I could see over the railing and watch (in vain) for whales and I could see the glacier much better. So here is me on my wobbly bar-height balcony chair.

 

 

 

 

 

My dad sitting in front of the big glacier on our way out of the back end of the bay:

 

 

[sue117]

Glacier Bay Cont.

 

 

I know, I know, everyone who has been to Alaska has seen numerous pics of the Glaciers and how pretty they are...but since I have you held hostage by reading my post, I'm going to torture you and show you more! ha!

 

Beautiful scenery:

 

 

And to prove that we DID see whales...here is the one that I think breached in the front of the ship (which of course we missed), but I did get a picture of the fluke as it went under.

 

 

More beautiful scenery

 

 

Ice and three little birds posing for my picture!

 

 

Another obligatory glacier picture with my dad and hubby

 

 

me on my perch again, waiting for the glacier to calve.

 

Edited September 27, 2013 by sue117

[sue117]

GLACIER BAY CONT again

 

And ANOTHER obligatory pic in front of the glacier:

 

 

There were some seals sitting on the ice in front of the glaciers, they were way far away though, so the pics are the best. But here is a seal on the ice.

 

 

And more seals

 

 

This is about as good as I could do on the calving. I just wasn't quick enough on the shutter click.

 

 

More pretty-ness

 

[sue117]

GLACIER BAY CONT again again

 

I have said that we saw some whales for the first time (out of 5 trips to Alaska). Here is one of the times we saw some whale snot...we didn't see much of the whale, but it was fun to see even this much of a whale!

 

 

 

 

We saw a seal swimming too!

 

 

And of course more boooooootiful scenery (pretend that is a whale in the middle of the picture instead of just a piece of ice and it's even MORE impressive!)

 

 

And me again taking photos.

 

Edited September 27, 2013 by sue117

[sue117]

GLACIER BAY still Cont. I really wanted a nap. After being in the sun all day and the wind, I felt like I had spent the day on the beach, but I also hate napping, as usually it makes me feel worse. So I hung in there and we had dinner at 530 in the dining room. We had another different waiter tonight, but at least the whole dinner was faster than last night. So I was a trouble-maker tonight and totally threw my poor waiter off. I ordered off the kids menu again, which was the first thing that threw him. I wanted “pico” with my quesadillas and with my mac and cheese. I tried to explain what it was. I said “it’s like salsa, but not really. It has chopped tomatoes and onions in it. So out came hubby’s and dad’s appetizer, but not mine. Then out came their second course, but not mine. He kept saying “They are working on it”. Then out came their meals…and they were still “working on mine”. Lol FINALLY it came out. This is what happens when you order "out of the box" at dinner....your table mates get to eat and you don't! lol Below is the result of asking for "pico" and explaining it as "you know, tomatoes and onions chopped up". ha!! And to end this really long Glacier Bay post here are some more pics. One of my favorite things to do is to take pictures of ourselves in the reflection of the window on the balcony. They usually come out pretty good and you get the nice scenery in the background. This trip it seems like a lot of them are blurry, but here is one that I took. Try it out if you have a balcony in the future! Tomorrow is Juneau. We don't have a ton of time in the port, and hopefully we will be at a GOOD pier and not the one WAY at the end where it is a mile from the "city". I'm not holding my breath though. It seems that the last few Alaska cruises we have always been out there.

[sail7seas]

Wonderful.....

 

Your photos are great and your 'perch'......... priceless!!!! :)

 

Thanks again for great reading/photo viewing. :)

[startwin]

Sue, wonderful photos, and what a lovely day you had in Glacier Bay.

 

We also did the Alaska cruise for the fifth time this year, and this was the first time we saw whales (apart from a spout way in the distance). But this time there were lots of humpbacks and orcas, each time giving us quite a show. And on memorable day, well over 100 dolphins swimming the wake of the ship. Fabulous!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sue

I love your father's reports and yours.

The pictures are fabulous!!

You certainly took a risk with your seating arrangement out on the verandah.

[pepsigirl64]

I think it's about what YOU make of it. I am 41 and my husband is 43 and we LOVE Holland America. We don't drink and we are hermits for the most part. We bring DVDs to watch at night in our room (for this cruise it's last season's Criminal Minds that we just got in the mail). We like that it's not a "party atmosphere" and there AREN'T a lot of younger people. Sad but true. :) So I think it's more about YOU and not as much about the ship. I know people will disagree with me, but you could put us on a boat to no where and we would be happy because we are on vacation and on a cruise. :)

 

But I will try to give you my observations but keep in mind the above. Not a lot of things bother us. We don't expect people to wait on us hand and foot, we don't get mad when the food isn't perfect, we just shrug and move on. We couldn't care less when our room steward cleans our room, be that 8am or 1pm. Someone smokes on the balcony next to us? Yuck, but whatever, we go inside and wait for them to be done, then go back outside. That's just the way WE are.

 

I WILL admit that what gets me the most on cruises is the attitudes of other people. The crabby, whiny, mean passengers that yell at the crew and other people. Since we work in customer service it just makes us so sad for the workers.

 

Anyway, I think if you like a more "mild" time, you will enjoy Holland America. If you want to be entertained at all times with music from "today" and bartenders who dance and throw bottles around at the bar, you might consider another line. :)

:D I just started reading your thread, still on page one, but couldn't go any farther without telling you that we must be related on some cosmic cruise cousin level....all the words that you spoke are EXACTLY my husband and I. Every word could have come out of my mouth. I look forward to your thread even though your trip is now coming to an end. :(

[rwams]

Enjoying both of your reviews. Wonderful pictures of Glacier Bay! What camera and lens are you using?

[mamaofami]

Alaska is like the Grand Canyon when it comes to pictures. They just don't do it justice because they can't show you how vast everything is. Sue, you've done an amazing job of capturing the glaciers. Great photos.:)

[canadianbear]

Sue,

 

Am really enjoying your comments and photos. It helps me remember our cruise the week before yours which sadly came to an end:eek:

 

So happy you had a fabulous Glacier Bay day-we didn't see a lot of calving and I know a lot of people were very disappointed. Luckily our first two visits in 2008 and 2009 we saw tons.

 

I agree with you about breakfast at the Pinnacle-for me it was worth it having a nice relaxing breakfast there.

 

Hope you all have made great memories in your trip to Alaska-sure looks like it! Enjoy the rest of your cruise.:)

[Love the beach]

Beautiful photos!

Enjoying your reports too!

[wu687]

I enjoyed you trip report, we were in a corner Neptune Suite a couple of decks below you in 5191. We got off the ship in Victoria and are now at home. I hope that you are able to enjoy you stay in Victoria before the weather changes, the first real winter storm from Alaska is coming in tonight and tomorrow. I guess it followed us domn from Alaska, we couldn't as for any better weather than what we had in Glacier Bay and Juneau.

 

Have a good trip home.

 

Gary

[sue117]

I enjoyed you trip report, we were in a corner Neptune Suite a couple of decks below you in 5191. We got off the ship in Victoria and are now at home. I hope that you are able to enjoy you stay in Victoria before the weather changes, the first real winter storm from Alaska is coming in tonight and tomorrow. I guess it followed us domn from Alaska, we couldn't as for any better weather than what we had in Glacier Bay and Juneau.

 

Have a good trip home.

 

Gary

 

Is it wrong of me to wish that we had SOME sort of exciting weather while we were on board!?! lol

 

Hey, since you are from Victoria, what was going on downtown Victoria tonight? They had a bunch of the streets closed. :)

 

S

[sue117]

DAD's REPORT

 

Thursday, September 26, 2013

When I awoke this morning it was cloudy and the sea was choppy, but not too bad. Our route today took us south toward Victoria on the seaward side of Graham Island. We are back in Canadian waters.

On this sea day, we’ve tracked southeast all day at about 19 kts through dreary skies, rain, and mild seas. Pat and Sue watched “Criminal Minds” in their cabin all morning. I’ve been reading “The Cuckoo’s Calling”. We took a break for lunch on the Lido Deck, and then retreated to our cabins for more “down” time most of the afternoon.

Most of the afternoon I read, but about 5:00 I turned on the television and found that the Thursday evening NCAA football game on ESPN this week was between Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. Imagine! Out here in the Pacific off the coast of British Columbia, I got to watch Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech, 17 – 10.

Dinner this evening was formal wear. After the football game, I dressed and we went to dinner in the Vista Restaurant. Even with reservations we had to wait a while for our table. I had an appetizer of escargot, with French onion soup, and the entrée was a comparatively thinly sliced portion of filet mignon and a lobster tail. Sue had spaghetti from the children’s menu.

This evening we are still out at sea, of

f the coast of British Columbia, at 50°08.63’ N, 128°12.85’ W on a southeast course of 134°, at a speed of 18.5 kts. Sometime early in the morning we will enter the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and will dock in Victoria, B.C., at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow. So far on this cruise, we have traveled 1748 nautical miles.

[sue117]

What the heck is this closer for? It's on the room right after you enter the room. It has a key hole to open it, but it's not locked. There are no shelves or anything in it. I thought it might be where the room steward hides, but I wasn't sure. lol :)

 

 

[sue117]

Enjoying both of your reviews. Wonderful pictures of Glacier Bay! What camera and lens are you using?

 

It's a Nikon D60. The lens for the upclose glacier pictures was a Nikon 55-200 autofocus lens.

[wu687]

Is it wrong of me to wish that we had SOME sort of exciting weather while we were on board!?! lol

 

Hey, since you are from Victoria, what was going on downtown Victoria tonight? They had a bunch of the streets closed. :)

 

S

 

You don't want to wish for exciting weather in this region, first storm of the season coming down from Alaska, usually our weather comes in from the south. I have seen people get seasick right in these waters. Maybe not in a ship the size of the Westerdam.

 

I heard about a police incident in downtown Victoria when I was driuving out to pickup our dogs, they didn't say what it was but did say people were not in danger. Maybe a bunch of people from the Westerdam having too much of a good time in downtown Victoria.

[sue117]

RANDOM THOUGHT

 

I forgot to talk about our free champagne in our room. Since we are in a Neptune Suite we were gifted a bottle of “sparkling wine” at checkin. I had learned on this board that we could exchange it not only for non-alcoholic wine, but also for cokes. So we brought it down to the Neptune Lounge and Michael said that he would have the cokes delivered to our room. For those who want to know, apparently that bottle of sparkling wine is either very cheap, or the cokes are very expensive. Lol. We got 4 cokes in exchange for the bottle of sparkling wine.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for the reports and photos, liked your high chair idea.